Customer Reviews

Beauty and the Beast [Original London Cast Recording]

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3 star:		(1)
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As someone who is a huge fan of the original Disney film, the Broadway stage show, and even a Cogsworth in a local high school production, I have to say that the London Cast Recording of "Beauty" does outstrip the Original Broadway Cast Recording immensley. First of all, the Broadway recording is simply too cartoony, the cast trying to immitate their animated counterparts' voices down to the last syllable instead of trying to make the characters their own. Not to say that Susan Egan's Belle and Terrence Mann's Beast aren't wonderful, but in the recording they try to be a little TOO Disney - not so in the London Cast Recording. These aren't animated characters, these are living, breathing people, or, well, creatures. Julie Alanah-Brighten positively sparkles as Belle, making her Belle very intelligent, yet also slightly shy to share who she truly is with other people. You can't really compare her portrayal to that of the spunky Susan Egan - their Belles are too different, Susan being a belting '90s teenager in the 18th century and Julie being more of a classicaly trained village girl swept into her own fairytale, as she should be - personally, I prefer Julie to Susan, but you judge for yourself. Alasdair Harvey gives us a more inverted, melancholy Beast, his interpretation showing us more of an internal torture than Terrence Mann's rather loud, outward interpretation, although Terrence is wonderful in his own right. However, Harvey's Beast pulls at the heartstrings far more than Terrence. The rest of the cast is also top notch, with Burke Moses reprising his role as Gaston from the Broadway production.

In addition to the glittering cast, the orchestrations in this recording blow the Broadway recording out of the water. Where the orchestra on the Broadway Cast Recording sound almost like they were playing for a film that came off a Disney channel movie, the orchestra here swells with that definative professional stage production finesse, "Human Again," "Be Our Guest," and "If I Can't Love Her" nearly blowing you out of your seat.

It is also interesting to note that the Original Broadway production was harpooned by critics and won only one Tony Award, whereas the London production won several Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical and received fair reviews. Perhaps that is because the West Enders got something right that the Americans didn't, and that is giving these colorful characters heart, realism, and believeavbility without turning them into outright caracitures as they seem to come off as in the Broadway recording.

So, if you want a good record of Disney's first venture into live theatre, go with this recording! You will be pleased!

It is true, the London West End Recording is far superior the the Broadway Cast Album. I bought this mainly as a collector's item and did not even consider that this would become my favorite recording. The entire cast does an awesome job, plus they all have British accents which is always fun. The Orchestra is huge and it sounds spectacular. The score is my favorite part of the whole show and this orchestra has a full and sweeping sound that blows you out of your seat. Some of the major differences are "Gaston" includes the complete dance break (with "cup clink" sounds), "Be Our Guest" also includes the entire dance sequence (clocking in at a solid 8 minutes), "If I Can't Love Her" is in a new, higher key (It now starts in D major and ends in G Major), "Maison des Lunes" is re-written with a third verse and alternate ending, and "Transformation" includes the "Aahs" as the Beast is transforming (unheard in other recordings!). But one of the BEST parts? No more Terrance Mann!

All in all, this was a fantastic find. If you love Beauty and the Beast, but you are looking for a little bit more, the London Cast Recording will not disappoint. BUY IT!

I just want to say the performances are great in this London Cast Recording. As Belle, Julie-Alanah Brighten does a terrific job. Her vocals are beautiful; I especially like her rendition of "Home." I might get flamed for this, but I don't particularly enjoy Susan Egan's voice (although her "A Change in Me" is great), but that's not why I like Brighten's Belle. She just has a great voice, with good support and good interpretations of the songs. The rest of the cast is pitch-perfect as well. Burke Moses, who plays Gaston, sounds almost exactly like the Gaston in the movie. And I can't forget the orchestra, which has a great and full sound, with lots of energy. Just how I like it. The only thing is that there isn't "A Change in Me," because I really like that song!

With the exception of CATS, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and LES MISERABLES, few of London's cast albums are superior to Broadway... however, Disney's BEAUTY & THE BEAST is included in this category. Here, London's cast is more vibrant and fresh. I purchased the B'dway cast in Jan. (I had the audio cassette of it from back when it first opened my freshman year in high school) but I needed to upgrade to CD several years ago and now I finally got it. I listned to the B'dway version and was definitely pleased with the effort everyone put into it but after recently signing up for auditions to an upcoming local production of this show I was anxious to hear the London cast as well. I got it in the mail yesterday (Overstock has it for much less than Amazon) and I played it right away and everything about it was far better than the original. Terrence Mann (you may remember him as the stage manager from the movie verison of A CHORUS LINE) played the Beast on B'dway and his interpretation was more of a tortured Beast and in the bits of dialogue in certain songs he played him in a very Disney-esque way while Alasdair Harvey's was more dignified and his voice has more of a presence, making his portrayal more of the classic Beast I remember from my boyhood. B'dway's Susan Egan is also a very Disney-type of Belle with her little feminine giggle every now and than (i.e. NO MATTER WHAT and during the reading of KING ARTHUR & CAMELOT in the middle of HUMAN AGAIN) while London's Belle (Julie-Alanah Brighton) is the best Belle I've heard up to my penning this review... Her version of HOME is shortned however (the 2nd verse was comepletely cut: "Is this home? Is this what I must learn to believe in?" ...) but I like how she conveys Belle as a grown woman (again as the classic BEAUTY I grew up with) and not a blushing, sweet-sixteen archetype like Ms. Egan was. Many of you familiar with the B'dway album or who were fortunate enough to see the original cast on stage may be pleased to see the return of Burke Moses as Gaston on this version as well and the actor portraying Lefou holds nothing back with his brilliant Cockney accent. The definite standouts of the score are HOME (even though it is edited), IF I CAN'T LOVE HER (the ending always gives me the chills from both Mann and Harvey), HUMAN AGAIN (although I still prefer the film verison of this one) and of course, the title song (performed perfectly by PHANTOM's Mary "Mdme. Giry" Miller as Mrs. Potts).

I highly recommend this album to anyone who already has the B'dway version or to anyone who loves musical theater or Disney in general. It's definitely worth the purchase... just remember... get it at Overstock, Overstock, Overstock...

If you don't own the original Broadway recording of "Beauty," then this is the one to get. If you do, it's still an interesting addition. The voices here are well-trained, enthusiastic, and beautiful to listen to (Broadway's Terrence Mann sung a "tormented" Beast, but Alasdair Harvey has a more credible flair to his voice; actually, his dialogue, going by the CD, feels a little overstated, but his singing more than makes up for it). The orchestra sounds better as well, and Bruce Botnick has done an excellent recording (watch out for volume, though: this has some low lows and some very high highs). One gripe: in "Beauty and the Beast (Reprise)," the chorus still sings "Certain as the sun, ah-ah" and "Beauty and the Bea-ST, ahhh..." rather than "Certain as the suhhhh-ahhhn" and "Beauty and the Beeeeea... ahh, ahh..." as only the film version captures.

If you haven't heard this music, it's very impressive and moving, by all accounts. Film fans, the stage version changes the musical perspective of "Beauty" a little. The Beast is now a major singer, and so we hear much more from his point of view. New songs abound, and while they are not as memorable as the film's, they pad the story nicely. Menken's best are "Home" and "If I Can't Love Her," which sound beautiful (unfortunately, Tim Rice is no Howard Ashman, and so these songs sometimes have simplistic, predictable, or just awkward lyrics). "Wolf Chase" (if you've heard the unreleased master, "Wolf Attack," from the film version, it's got nothing on this newly orchestrated piece) and "Entr'Acte" showcase the orchestra's power. "Be Our Guest" now clocks in at a staggering eight minutes. The "Transformation" music, originally rather pastoral and resolved with moments of flourish, is now a roller coaster ride of reprises ("Home," "Prologue," "If I Can't Love Her," and the title song all have their time to shine), the energy level staying high and absolutely exploding at the transition from "If I Can't Love Her" into "Beauty and the Beast (Reprise)." A spine-tingling finale, indeed.

This review is basically a comparison of people and songs between Broadway and London Cast, for those interested.

~Belle~ Julie-Alanah Brighton has a very soft singing voice, and can't be compared to Susan Egan easily since they're so different. I prefer Julie-Alanah in all the songs except "Me" and "Home" where Susan Egan's powerful voice and confident portrayal of Belle make "Home" more impressive and "Me" more amusing.

~Beast~ I LOVE Alasdair Harvey. Nothing against Terrance Mann, but he wasn't a personal favorite, and I found Alasdair to be a wonderful alternative. Terrance Mann seems to me a singing version of the cartoon. Alasdair Harvey takes the character and breaths life into him. Like Julie-Alanah, His voice is also less powerful than his Broadway counterpart, but that doesn't stop him from belting out strong in "If I Can't Love Her". (Which actually starts higher than Broadway) He also has a very young sounding voice, which made him more believable to me as a prince who's a few months away from turning 21.

~Lumiere~ The Broadway Lumiere was, in my personal opinion, very annoying. No one is better than Jerry Orbach (In the Disney cartoon) at singing the famous "Be Our Guest", and the Broadway Lumiere's mistake, was trying so hard to sound like him. The London Cast Lumiere is not half as annoying, and though he has a thick accent, it is handled well.

Here are a few tracks that stand out in my mind when I compare Broadway to the London Cast.

~Me~ This is a song based on Gaston's proposal to Belle. In this instance, Broadway's better. Gaston is played by Burke Moses in both productions, but he seemed to have a lot more energy on Broadway. (Though he does great in both) Plus, as I mentioned above, Susan Egan makes this song hilarious with her attitude. Julie-Alanah sounds flustered the entire song.

~Home~ As stated above, Susan Eagan's voice makes this song more impressive sounding, but Julie-Alanah also does well and sings this as a sweet girl who's been trapped in a horrible place.

~Be Our Guest~ The London version is the longest at about 8 minutes, but it's also VERY slow getting started and kind of drags on... And, as I said earlier, the Broadway Lumiere is hard to listen to ... So the movie version is the best in this instance.

~If I Can't Love Her~ This is my favorite song in the play, and I love Alasdair Harvey's version of it. In the Broadway version it sounded like about six instruments were accompanying Terrence Mann. London's orchestra is phenomenal and Alasdair Harvey's ending is a completely different experience.

~Transformation/Beauty and the Beast (Reprise)~ London has this one. The orchestra makes a huge difference, and when Belle tells the Beast she loves him, it actually sounds like she does. (Susan Egan's performance was pitiful at that part in the Broadway cast. No emotion whatsoever.) The grand finale is greatly enhanced by the large orchestra and MANY people in the chorus. Perfect ending to a great CD!

In summary, if you enjoy Beauty and the Beast, don't hesitate to buy this CD. It's quite different from Broadway and the Disney Movie, but very enjoyable in it's own right.

I read in one of the reviews here that this soundtrack was recorded before the cast even went to Broadway, which makes my complaints with this CD understandable. The performances are quite lackluster. Susan Egan borders on forced-genuinity and at times sounds a bit too --I don't know -- like a voice for a Disney channel ad, for example, when she sings the line, "I love the funny way you stand out from the crowd" in "No Matter What". When the Beast is dying it's downright pacifying. I have seen clips of Susan's Belle live and she is amazing -- her voice much richer and natural as Belle and her acting superb. This CD does her no justice. Terrence Mann's voice isn't deep or powerful enough for my taste but he does a nice job conveying the Beast's despair with surprisingly effective gentleness. The orchestrations could be richer and just a tad faster.